Forwarding -- Revised Version

Writing is a complicated task. It is a long process that includes extensive research, thought, experience, and continuous editing. But like bell hooks states, “It is a way to experience the ecstatic.” We become so engrossed in our writing that the world around us crumples away except the issues that relate to our current project. While reading “Remembered Rapture: Dancing with Words” by bell hooks I was immediately intrigued with her overall outlook on writing. She made me believe that writing is not only a writer’s psychological hero, but it is also a physical performance. “Performing the words to both hear and feel them, I want to be certain I am grappling with language in a manner where my words live and breathe, where they surface from a passionate place inside me.” This statement is so profound and really stuck with me. I have never opened my imagination far enough to strive for my words to speak for themselves. Having your words live and breathe for themselves is such a remarkable thought to obtain.

            Bell hooks goes into specific detail about academic writing, how we have been taught to write, and feel about it. “We were wrongly taught that it was an expression of neutrality.” This is not what writing is about and that is what bell hooks is trying to express to her audience. In order to be an active participate in the conversation, you need to choose a side that you strongly support. “When I begin writing a critical essay, it is never the starting point for any discussion; it emerges as the site of culmination or a location for prolonged engagement, an invitation to work in a sustained manner with ideas.” Writers are constantly joining into a conversation that has existed for years and is continuously being added onto. Everyday people are becoming apart of the conversation and forwarding their thoughts, whether they acknowledge it or not. Bell hooks tries to make this point clear but is also trying to get us to believe that our writing should be personal and we should take a stand. Writers should be confident in their beliefs and while they may receive negative feedback, it is better to be apart of the conversation than be vulnerable and remain a silent bystander.

Marianna Torgovnick has a similar approach as bell hooks by explaining to her audience that writers need to begin to take a stand within their writing rather than being overshadowed. One topic she discussed is grasping your audience’s attention. A huge issue that all writers are faced with is pleasing their audience. It is merely impossible to satisfy everyone when writing. For starters, no author can be entirely sure who their audience will be, but by the subject they are choosing they can create an overall assumption.

“I am writing for myself.” After reading this sentence I had to stop for a moment and let that statement sink in. I felt disappointed and shameful. Up until this moment I had forgotten that my writing is strictly for me. While I may be writing for a specific audience or to forward my thoughts into a preexisting engagement, my honest opinion is what matters to me most. Torgovnick had to remind herself of that too and was aiming to have her audience realize it. While pleasing your audience is a rewarding feeling and a sense of relief, if you are not being personal and honest in your work then you have fallen into the trap; the trap that academic writing has pulled us all into.

Both articles left a heavy impression and made me realize that taking that leap of faith can have an everlasting reward. Standing up for yourself and your beliefs in your writing is okay. It is okay to take a side; in fact it is better to pick the side you strongly stand upon and be proud of it. On the other hand, that outlook on flexibility and taking risks can relate to other things too. As a future educator, I can correlate that advice when teaching my students; although that was not the first idea that came to my mind.

Life itself is a fragile thing and people take it for granted.  We need to start teaching people about the importance of living life to the fullest and not giving a single damn about what people think about you. My mother always taught to be a leader and walk along my own path. While this advice was simple it has helped me survive the nineteen years I have walked the earth. I am a leader and do not allow the negatives comments people make towards me affect me in any way. I have no filter whatsoever and am brutally honest to those I love simply because even though the truth may sting sometimes, being one hundred percent honest with a person shows that you truly care about them.

We are constantly taught to stay in the lines, follow the rules, and remain seated but its time to rebel against everything that has restricted us for years. The First Amendment declares our Freedom of Speech, yet we are told we need to censure our thoughts and be and mindful of whom our audience is. I believe that we need to begin to test our overall strength so we can find glory and success that we never thought imaginable. For example, my best friend recently gathered all the strength she had inside her, and beyond that, and told me she was gay. She has slowly been telling her other friends and the positive support that was passed her way provided her with the strength to tell her family. That right there is the meaning of life. We should be able to say, feel, and behave the way we want to.

When I am joining into a conversation within my writing I expect to be respected and heard rather than shut down just because my beliefs are different from someone else’s. Everyone has the right to his or her own opinion and I expect mine to be heard. Parents need to start telling their children that it does not matter what others think of you; your opinion of yourself is what matters most. Educators need to start telling their students to stop remaining in their comfort zone and following the academic writing requirements. Take a risk in your writing and write for yourself because that is all that matters. We need to start telling ourselves to stop being a follower and be a leader. Torgovnick and hooks took risks within their writing and while they remained open to satisfying their potential audience they put themselves first. As a future educator, I want my students to put themselves first in their writing. Taking that leap of faith can result with lots of scars and bruises but it can also lead to profound change within yourself; you will never know though until you jump.